Sr Financial Associate

Syneos Health is seeking a Sr Financial Associate to serve as a key finance business partner to Business Unit Controllers and Associate Directors of Finance.

The role is responsible for revenue recognition, forecasting, budgeting, backlog management, profitability analysis, financial reporting, project financial oversight, and business performance reviews.

Key Responsibilities:

Financial Planning, Reporting & Revenue Management

• Record and validate monthly revenue for Fee-for-Service, Fixed Price, and Unit-based contracts.
• Manage complex projects and contracts, ensuring compliance with revenue recognition policies.
• Prepare monthly project-level actual versus budget and forecast variance analyses.
• Generate and distribute monthly financial performance reports and dashboards.
• Coordinate monthly forecasting cycles, including backlog and revenue projections.
• Meet established deadlines for revenue and backlog submissions.
• Prepare project closeout reconciliations and resolve financial discrepancies.
• Monitor project financial performance, including revenue, gross profit, receivables, unbilled balances, and project profitability.

Project Financial Management

• Load and maintain project budgets, resource plans, key member lists, and project data within financial systems.
• Support financial setup of newly awarded projects and ensure accurate project initialization.
• Review project-level financial activity and investigate unusual trends, variances, or anomalies.
• Analyze project profitability and provide recommendations for performance improvement.

Contract & Backlog Management

• Review executed and proposed contracts, work orders, change orders, letter agreements, and amendments.
• Support approval processes for pending change orders and contract modifications.
• Assess financial implications of contractual changes and ensure proper revenue treatment.
• Maintain accurate backlog reporting and forecasting for assigned business units.

Business Performance Analysis

• Prepare and analyze: annual budgets, financial forecasts, cost and expense projections, utilization metrics, headcount planning, resource requirements, revenue backlog analyses, and gross profit and margin reports.
• Support monthly business reviews with Business Unit Controllers and operational leaders.
• Deliver actionable insights on business growth trends, profitability, productivity, and operational performance.
• Develop ad hoc financial analyses and management reports as required.

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in finance, Accounting, Commerce, Economics, Business Administration, or a related discipline.
• MBA or equivalent professional qualification preferred.

Experience:

• 3–7 years of progressive experience in Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), project finance, commercial finance, business finance, or contract accounting.
• Experience supporting project-based businesses, CROs, professional services, healthcare, consulting, technology, or similar industries preferred.
• Experience with revenue recognition, forecasting, budgeting, contract review, and profitability analysis.

Technical Skills:

• Strong knowledge of financial accounting and revenue recognition principles.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills (Power Query, Pivot Tables).
• Experience with ERP systems such as Oracle, Workday, or similar platforms.
• Knowledge of financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, and variance analysis.